1. Field
The present invention generally relates to an image streaming technology and more particularly to a system for minimizing resource usage of a Network Video Recorder.
2. Description of the Related Art
In security systems, IP cameras are rapidly replacing analogue cameras, and thus, a Network Video Recorder (NVR), introduced in Korean Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0119248 (Published on Oct. 31, 2013), is increasingly used as a substitute for a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) as a recording solution. Due to usage of IP cameras, high-definition images are widely used and the NVR needs to use more resources than the DVR to supervise/control the high-definition images. However, excessive resource usage drives an increase in costs of the NVR.
There are four primary tasks of an NVR.
1. registering and managing IP camera
2. displaying images of a camera on a screen
3. storing images of a camera
4. transmitting images of a camera to a client at a remote location
The first task does not require a lot of resources, but the second, third, and fourth tasks are performed using an enormous amount of resources. Since every NVR is not connected to a client device at a remote location, the fourth task is not essential. Thus, minimizing resources required for the fourth task may help to reduce hardware costs for an NVR. However, as some cases still require performance the fourth task, it is necessary to develop a technology that not only reduces the hardware costs for an NVR, but also transmits a high-definition image to the client device.
Since a conventional NVR depends only on hardware performance, developing hardware products is the only way to transmit images from a remote distance, but such development requires additional costs and changes.
If a streaming server streams images of an IP camera at a remote location directly to a client device without passing through an NVR, the streaming server needs to manage IP cameras. In this case, in response to an event where an existing IP camera is replaced or where a new camera is added, the stream server needs to perform an additional management task.
In light of this background, the inventor of the present disclosure has studied an image streaming system for minimizing resource usage of an NVR: a system that does not need to manage IP cameras nor require additional resources to stream images to a client device at a remote location since the image streaming system is able to directly access an IP camera registered in the NVR without passing through the NVR to retrieve an image from the IP camera.